Confusion in the Chaos
by Twisted Pheonix
Summary: It would be crazy to think that everyone in the crowd on the night of the tri-wizard tournament got the correct story. Ron Wealsey and Hermione Granger for instance, were at first confused when people began shouting "He's Dead!"


Confusion in the Chaos  
  
My lil blurb of what it was like for Hermione and Ron in the stands of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. When Ron and Hermione first hear the words the crowd is screaming of 'He's dead', and thinking for a torturous moment that it might be Harry.  
  
Disclaimer: all names and affiliations with Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and all publishers and stuff. also, the idea for this was not mine, sadly, I simply got it off a message board that I chat at, and it sent shivers down my spine. I had to write my version of it.  
  
"Luck Harry!" Hermione called to her friends pale face.  
  
"Yeah mate. G' luck. See ya when it's all over!" Ron grinned.  
  
Harry started out of the Great Hall and off to the third task of the Triwizard Tournament with the other three champions. None of his segregate family could help but notice that the scrawny fourteen-year-old looked paltry in comparison to the other champions.  
  
As the Weasleys and Hermione got settled into the stands, they waved at a miniature Harry at the entrance to the giant maze. Hermione, sitting next to Ron, wrung her hands nervously. Ron grinned at her as he nudged her with an elbow.  
  
"He'll be fine," he told her, though his voice shook slightly. "We've been helping him for ages, and besides, Moody's right. He's gotten through hard stuff before. He'll do great." Hermione knew Ron seemed to be trying to convince himself more than her, but she smiled thinly nonetheless.  
  
"Right," she mumbled tersely, eyes fixated on Harry, who had just entered the darkened maze of hedges. The audience could see distinct parts of the inside of the maze, but most of the towering hedges blocked the view of the champions' progress. Hermione was not sure she was glad of this or not. Ron, while complaining with Bill that it made it quite annoying not to be able to see Harry, Ron secretly knew he did not desire anything of the sort. He had a distinct feeling that he didn't prefer to see all the ghastly situations his best friend got into and not be able to help him even a smidge.  
  
After about an hour and some odd minutes-both Ron and Hermione had stopped asking, as Bill had begun to snap at them once they asked every three minutes- there was movement in the light part of the maze, in the very center.  
  
The golden cup could be seen clearly by the stands, but a few feet beyond it became darkness. What caused Hermione to gasp aloud was the sight of Cedric Diggory, holding onto a limping Harry Potter towards the cup together.  
  
"They're taking it together!" Hermione whispered gleefully.  
  
"What? Is he mad?" Fred asked sharply.  
  
"Shove him, Harry!" George urged, staring avidly at the miniscule figures below.  
  
Hermione and Ron ignored them. Hermione could not help the burst of pride, not to mention immense relief, that it was over, and that Harry had the dignity to take a tie with Cedric.  
  
Ron was torn between grinning openly at his best friend's success at making it to the cup alive, and laughing at him for taking a tie. So like Harry, he told himself.  
  
As the two boys reached for the cup, Ron and Hermione looked at each other and smile broadly for the first time in months. Harry had made it.  
  
But as the stadium erupted into gasps, screams and cries of alarm, their eyes were wrenched back to the maze, and the now, very empty, center.  
  
"What happened?" shouted Hermione, standing up.  
  
Mrs. Weasley looked horror stricken; Fred and George confused; Bill Weasley was looking around at the judges, to see their reaction; Ron was still staring blankly at the center of the maze.  
  
"Where- where'd he go?" Ron asked no one in particular softly. Hermione looked to the judges as Bill was doing. Their reaction made her heart plummet.  
  
Cornelius Fudge looked thunderstruck and confused. He kept looking from the maze to the other judges hurriedly. Madam Maxime was turned around talking animatedly to one of the Professors that had been patrolling the exterior of the maze. Professor Dumbledore, to the astonishment of everyone, looked slightly worried, and was conversing quietly with Professor McGonagall. Hermione looked around, but both Ludo Bagman, and Professor Karkaroff were nowhere to be seen.  
  
Ron was still staring into space when Hermione looked back at him.  
  
"Ron?" she chanced tentatively, the fear in her voice making itself heard against her will. When he looked at her he looked scared. Hermione wondered if she had ever seen her friend that worried before in their four years of schooling.  
  
"Something happened, Hermione. There's no other explanation. Somehow, someone got him eventually." Ron shook his head. Hermione. Sat down on the bench next to Ron hard. They sat together like that for a long while, wondering if they had lost their friend for good.  
  
The crown had become lifeless for more than an hour when and abrupt change occurred. Ron and Hermione, not daring to move from the stands, for fear of missing something dreadfully important, saw a stampede of people rush toward one end of the field. They seemed to be closing in on one spot. Hermione and Ron, standing swiftly, were able to make out Albus Dumbledore hovering in the middle of the queue.  
  
As the two friends hastened to make their own way down to the field, they heard the first of the screams. The words could not be made out at this distance, but the fear that was infused in everyone's voice was unmistakable.  
  
And then, as Hermione was thrown into Ron by a jostle of the crowd around them, they heard the murmurs, and the sobs of crying girls.  
  
"Dead?"  
  
"Dead!"  
  
"He's dead!"  
  
Both Ron and Hermione froze at the words, their hearts stopping and chills creating goose bumps all down their spines.  
  
"Dead?" whispered Hermione. "Harry's gone." She felt her legs give way from under her, as the knowledge trickled into her conscience. She was not even aware of being grabbed roughly by strong hands. One of her best friends was gone. Dead, at fourteen. She could not think. Logic eluded her, and she gave up all pretense of trying to think. Harry had always been the better wizard, and now he was gone. Forever. She did not notice the steady stream of tears that were already making their way down her face.  
  
Ron Weasley heard the whispers and cries of "He's dead" as if from many miles away. it seemed he had already traveled a great distance, and something had prepared him for the news that his best mate in the world had just appeared dead, in the middle of a stupid maze. At once, even from his very far off place, Ron felt the agonizing pain of guilt and anguish surge over him. Even as Hermione crumpled into his arms, he was only dimly aware of pulling her up and holding on to her. Harry was gone. There was only the two of them left.  
  
Both Hermione and Ron were jostled back into the reality of the situation as Bill, Fred and George came barreling into them, succeeding in knocking both of them over and onto the grass.  
  
"Ron! Mum's been so worried!" Bill shouted over the din of the crowd. "You both just took off." He took one look at his youngest brother's face and the young girl who was best friends with Ron and Harry, and helped them both up.  
  
"Come on," George muttered, lifting Hermione by the arms.  
  
"Mum's over here," Fred said, pointing to the way they had come. The two seemed distant, and extremely pale, and Hermione looked close to passing out. Neither responded. The three brothers looked worried. They steered the two towards their mother, knowing she could sort them out.  
  
"Ron! Hermione!" came a shout, as the group reached the edge of the jostling crowd. Molly Weasley ran up to them, embracing both children into a swift hug. "Oh it's just awful," she murmured, not letting go of the two fourteen-year-olds. The fact that they had not responded yet to her bone- crushing grip was worrying the older Weasleys.  
  
"Dumbledore's told everyone the Diggory is dead," she stuttered. Hermione gave a small sob into the woman's shirt. Ron stepped back, a strange look on his face as he stared at his mother, who still griped his arm as though he would collapse any moment.  
  
"Him too?" was the dead whisper that issued from his lips.  
  
"Ron, what do you mean?" asked Bill softly.  
  
"Harie's don," was the stuffy reply from Mrs. Weasley's shirt.  
  
"What dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, an astounded look of horror on her face. She let of her son and pulled Hermione away from her. Cupping the girls face into her hand, she look into red, tear stained eyes. "Harry went up to the castle, yes, but I'm sure that we can go to the Hospital Wing and sort it all out."  
  
Identical looks of horror, enlightenment, understanding and joy leapt across both young faces. Hermione once gain fell into the arms of her other best friend and sobbed for the second time that night. Ron, looking stunned, held Hermione with a look of pure enthrallment upon his face.  
  
They held each other, and knew that one horror was not theirs that night. Whatever happened, Harry was alive. The utter terror at thinking that Harry was gone had been agonizing.  
  
They held each other and knew that, for now, they would not have to think of a world with out Harry Potter. They did not know, and would never know, how close they had come to living this world. 


End file.
